


Foiled AU

by Phoenix_The_Real_Person



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: Angst, F/F, I'd say I'm sorry, M/M, Multi, Other, Self-Indulgent, but I'm not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24208315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_The_Real_Person/pseuds/Phoenix_The_Real_Person
Summary: What if Artemis failed to kidnap Holly in the first book? In my personal opinion, the world would go to shit.  Enjoy!
Relationships: Artemis Fowl II/OC, Lili Frond/Holly Short, Opal Koboi/Briar Cudgeon
Comments: 10
Kudos: 21





	1. Prologue

Sometimes a tragedy feels like the worst thing that could possibly happen to you.

_She checked the dials. Twenty more seconds before she rode out the flare and was running on thermals. Those twenty seconds seemed like an age. Holly sealed the helmet to protect her eyes, riding out the final barrage of rocks._

_And suddenly they were clear, sailing upward on the comparatively gentle spirals of hot air. Holly added her own thrusters to the upward force. No time to waste floating around on the wind._

Sometimes you wish you could take everything else in your life back just so you could avoid it.

_The troll was directly below her, pounding against the town’s outer wall, which was coming away in chunks beneath his powerful fingers. Holly sucked in a startled gasp. This guy was a monster! Big as an elephant and ten times as mean. But this particular beast was worse than mean, he was scared._

Sometimes nothing else could have possibly been worse.

_Holly felt the dart puncture the suit’s toughened material, depositing its load of curare and succinylcholine chloride-based tranquilizer into her shoulder. The world instantly dissolved into a series of technicolored bubbles and, try as she might, Holly couldn’t seem to hold on to more than one thought. And that thought was: How did they know? How did they know? How did they…_

And sometimes… sometimes it could have been so, so much worse.


	2. Be Not Afraid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artemis Fails

Chapter 1: Be Not Afraid

_Waking up to Commander Root's bulging features is the stuff of nightmares. Holly's eyes flickered open, and for a second she could have sworn that there was concern in those eyes. But then it was gone, replaced by the customary vein-popping fury._

_“Captain Short!” he roared, mindless of her headache. “What in the name of sanity happened here?”_

_Holly rose shakily to her feet._

_“I…That is…There was …” The sentences just wouldn't come._

_“You disobeyed a direct order. I told you to hang back! You know it's forbidden to enter a human building without an invitation.”_

_Holly shook the shadows from her vision. “I got invited in. A child called for help.”_

_“You're on shaky ground there, Short.”_

_“There is precedent, sir. Corporal Rowe versus the State. The jury ruled that the trapped woman's cry for help could be accepted as an invitation into the building. Anyway, you're all here now. That means you accepted the invitation too.”_

_“Hmm,” said Root doubtfully. “I suppose you were lucky. Things could have been worse.”_

_Holly looked around. Things couldn't have been a lot worse. The establishment was pretty trashed, and there were forty humans out for the count. The tech boys were attaching mind-wipe electrodes to the temples of unconscious diners._

_“We managed to secure the area, in spite of half the town hammering on the door.”_

_“What about the hole?”_

_Root smirked. “See for yourself.”_

_Holly glanced over. Retrieval had jimmied a hologram lead into the existing electricity sockets and were projecting an unbattered wall over the hole. The holograms were handy for quick patches, but no good under scrutiny. Anyone who examined the wall too closely would have noticed that the slightly transparent patch was exactly the same as the stretch beside it. In this case there were two identical patches of spiderweb cracks and two reproductions of the same Rembrandt. But the people inside the pizzeria were in no condition to examine walls, and by the time they woke up, the wall would have been repaired by the telekinetic division and the entire paranormal experience would be removed from their memories._

_A Retrieval officer bolted from the restroom._

_“Commander!”_

_“Yes, Sergeant?”_

_“There's a human in here, sir. The Concusser didn't reach him. He's coming, sir. Right now, sir!”_

_“Shields!” barked Root. “Everyone!”_

_Holly tried. She really did. But it wouldn't come. Her magic was gone. A toddler waddled out of the bathroom, his eyes heavy with sleep. He pointed a pudgy finger directly at Holly._

_“_ Ciao, fulletta, _” he said, before climbing into his father's lap to continue his snooze._

_Root shimmered back into the visible spectrum. He was, if possible, even angrier than before._

_“What happened to your shield, Short?”_

_Holly swallowed. “Stress, Commander,” she offered hopefully._

_Root wasn't having any of it. “You lied to me, Captain. You're not running hot at all, are you?”_

_Holly shook her head mutely._

_“How long since you completed the Ritual?”_

_Holly chewed her lip. “I'd say…about…four years, sir.”_

_Root nearly popped a vein. “Four…Four years? It's a wonder you lasted this long! Do it now. Tonight! You're not coming below ground again without your powers. You're a danger to yourself and your fellow officers!”_

_“Yessir.”_

_“Get a set of Hummingbirds from Retrieval and zip across to the old country. There's a full moon tonight.”_

_“Yessir.”_

_“And don't think I've forgotten about this shambles. We'll talk about it when you get back.”_

_“Yessir. Very good, sir.”_

_Holly turned to go, but Root cleared his throat for attention._

_“Oh, and Captain Short …”_

_“Yessir?”_

_Root's face had lost its purple tinge - he almost seemed embarrassed. “Well done on the life-saving thing. Could have been worse, an awful lot worse.”_

_Holly beamed behind her visor. Perhaps she wouldn't be kicked out of Recon after all._

_“Thank you, sir.”_

_Root grunted, his complexion returning to its normal ruddy hue._

_“Now get out of here, and don't come back until you're full to the tips of your ears with magic!”_

_Holly sighed. So much for gratitude._

_“Yes, sir. On my way, sir.”_

Root turned to two of the Retrieval agents behind her. “And you, go with her! Make sure no other incidents happen tonight!”

“Yessir!” They chorused in unison, and took off after Holly into the night.

***

One uneventful flight later, Holly would never dare to break the rules, however tempting, with two witnesses from Retrieval on her tail, Holly arrived at a ritual site just off the southeast coast. It wasn’t far from Tara, but it would have far fewer tourists. Besides, it was easy access from the air, but remote and desolate for land-bound humans, so no one could accuse her of putting herself or her companions in harm’s way… again. She touched down, knowing her personal guardian angels would continue to hover just above her as she completed the ritual.

_Holly hooked the wings over a low branch, unstrapping the helmet to give her ears some air. You had to be careful with elfin ears - a few hours in the helmet and they started to flake. She gave the tips a massage. No dry skin there. That was because she had a daily moisturizing regime, not like some of the male LEP officers. When they took off their helmets, you'd swear it had just started to snow._

_Holly paused for a minute to admire the view. Ireland certainly was picturesque. Even the Mud People hadn't been able to destroy that. Not yet anyway…Give them another century or two. The river was folding gently before her like a silver snake, hissing as the water tumbled across a stony bed. The oak tree crackled overhead, its branches rasping together in the bracing breeze._

_Now, to work. She needed a seed. Holly bent to the ground, brushing the dried leaves and twigs from the clay's surface. Her fingers closed around a smooth acorn. That wasn't hard now, was it? she thought. All that remained for her to do was plant it somewhere else and her powers would come rushing back._

_Suddenly, something whizzed over Holly's head, something that glinted in the starlight. Holly had enough on-the-job experience to realize that she was under fire, and immediately curled her elfin frame into a ball, minimizing the target._

She drew her weapon and whirled around to see who had cornered her. However, she needn’t have worried. The retrieval officers above her had taken aim and knocked the two humans approaching her out cold. Holly stared for a moment. Lying on the ground was the largest mudman she had ever seen, and his cub lying beside him.

“Gods…” Holly whispered. “How did they find us?”

The retrieval officers touched down beside her. “D’arvit… I… we never would have seen them coming.” One of them blabbered.

“I know.”

“I mean, you’d be… we could have all been!”

“I know.”

“How the hell are we going to get them underground to be wiped. I mean… I mean Foaly is going to have to want to know how they managed to track us down, right.”

“Yes… yes he will.” Holly sighed. “We’re gonna have to call for backup on this one.”

“But…”

Holly grimaced at the thought of making that call. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but what else are we going to do?”

“We could wipe them ourselves. We have field kits.”

“Yes, but imagine reporting back with that. These humans clearly had valuable Intel on our society, enough to track officers to a ritual site without being detected, but we lost everything we could have learned about how they got their intelligence because we panicked and wiped them. Sorry.”

“Fine… fine, I’ll call it in.”

Holly turned back to the oak to finish completing the ritual. She was going to miss being in the LEP. But, apparently, the universe was telling her that wasn’t meant to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the most productive I've been with a fic in such a short span of time. Probably because both of these chapters are mostly just quotes from the first book. Don't worry, I promise from here on out there will be a lot more original content. Thanks for reading.  
> Once again, the italics denote direct quotes.


	3. Be Very Afraid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commander Root deals with the fallout. AKA Local old man comes to terms with the fact that his friend is racist, but still refuses to see that as a warning sign for anything.

Chapter 2: Be Very Afraid

Root sighed as he left his office that night. This hurt him more than he cared to admit. As much as he would love for the LEP to be fully integrated, he just didn’t think the world would ever accept it, or accept him for allowing it. The world was cruel, and always would be. He shook his head. He sounded like a dramatic child, even to himself, but this business was becoming so tiring.

A small smile came to his face, however, when he saw his oldest friend rounding the corner. “Good evening, Briar.” he called out.

“Ah, Julius. How are you? You don’t look too pleased.”

“I… I had to fire the new girl today. Put her back on traffic to make way for a new test case. It’s a shame. I really liked her. I thought she had real potential.”

“I see…” Briar frowned as he said this, suddenly seeming far less content.

Root rolled his eyes. “Yes Briar, I know your thoughts on the subject, but I really believe some of these women could do some good in this organization.”

“I hope you’re right Julius, I really do. It’s just… I don’t see how any woman could have the same potential as an officer as any man. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Well, it makes sense to me. Makes sense to some of the council too.”

Cudgeon smiled slightly and shook his head. “Maybe one day you’ll listen to me, Julius.”

Root chuckled. “Maybe one day, old friend.”

He turned away, and as he did so, he didn’t see the wicked glint in his friend’s eye as he called out: “Perhaps one day I’ll be on the council, and then all of this nonsense can be behind us!”

“Until then, Briar!” Root grinned as he left. “I’ll do as I please.”

“Until then.” Cudgeon muttered as he watched Root go. “Until then.”

***

Coming into work the next day, Root was almost immediately pulled into Foaly’s office. “This had better be important, Foaly. I’m not in the mood for your dramatics today.”

“No, Commander, this is important. Those humans we wiped the other day, the ones who snuck up on three of our agents at a ritual site, we’ve been looking over their memories. And, well, the things they were able to accomplish are amazing! Even setting aside their discovering us in the first place. They translated a copy of the book. They were able to map out our ritual sites with an eighty percent accuracy. They were even able to return magic to a lapsed fairy. My people are working on tracking her down right now.”

“But all of that should be impossible! What sort of resources were these people working with? What government are they working for?”

“That’s the most incredible part. They’re not working for anyone. The boy, it was all his idea. He only had his parent’s money, the man who we found with him, and his sister. It’s perhaps the worst organized, most amateur, most ridiculous attempt at uncovering our society, and it's come the closest to working out of any other attempt.”

“I don’t… I don’t believe this. I want to see these memories for myself; show me the tapes.”

“Of course, sir, right this way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter, but after this it changes perspective again, so I decided to make this one short and sweet rather than long and kinda confusing. I hope it isn't too disappointing.

**Author's Note:**

> I had my siblings and my friends on the Tumblr group-chat "Let's Talk About Artemis Fowl" vote on which of my WIPs I should work on before my summer research starts, and this one won out!  
> The italics in this section denote quotes directly from the book.


End file.
